Dispensing-cabinet



1. rnnscnf. DISPENSING CABINET.

l APPLICATION FILED FEB. 8. 1918. I 1,367,033.r Patented Feb. 1, v1921.

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I III YWM Y U J1 l. FRITSCHE.

. msPENsme CABINET.

APPLlc/nmi man ria. s. 191s. 1,367,033. Patentedv Feb. 1, A1921.

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' msPENsmG CABINET.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 8. 1918.

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IMIHIIIIIIIIIHIHIIIIM 0N MN5/61451 Fla/6 Vwill be ap UNITEDK STA JOHN FBITSCHE, F PHILADELPHIA,

DIS?ENSING-CABINET.

Specication of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 1, 1921.

- appumion mea February s, isis. 'serial No. 216,015.

To all whom it may concem.'

, Be it known that I, J oHN Fiirrscrm, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city and county of Philadelphia, tate of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Dispensin -Cabinet, of which the followin is a spec' cation.v n

y present invention comprehends a novel construction and arrangement of a dispensing cabinet which .is especially designed' for the dispensing of towels for temporary use only and for the dispensing of a determined amount of soap, although, as arent, it is not limited to such use and may e employed ,for the dispensing of other articles or material. e construction of the cabinet is such that clean towels are retained in a locked compartment and they can onl be brou ht into a position accessible to t e inten ed user or purchaser when a check or coin of the roper denomination has been deposited 1n the cabinet. The removal of a towel into a position accessible to the user effects the operation of the soap dispensing device to cause a determined amount of soa to be fed into a position accessible to the mtendin user.

y invention in its preferre form coniprehends novel means to effect the removal of a towel from its compartment into apo- `sition accessible to the intending user, novel means for preventing the withdrawal of more than one towel at a time, novel means for preventing the insertion of a check or coin when the cabinet is empty, novel means Afor effecting the relooking of the mechanism by the removal of a towe from its compartment, a novel construction and arrangement of a soap dispensing device, and'novel means i for actuating it, a novel construction and arrangement of coin controlled operative mec anisni, a novel construction 'and arran ent of a cabinet and novel means for retaining the unused towels and the used towels within the cabinet.

other novel features of construction and advantage will hereinafter more clearly appear in the detailed description of 'my invention. y 1' For the purpose of Villustrating my in'- veiition, I have 'shown in the accompanying drawings typical embodiments of it which are at present preferred'by me, since these embodiments will` give in practice satisfact .and reliable results, although it'is to be that the-various instrumentalivon the same line as partly broken vtainer in detached position.

another embodiment device embodying Vadapted to dispense .being of .substantiallyties of which my invention consists can be variously arranged and organized and that my invention is not limited to the precise arrangement and organization of these instrumentalities as herein shown and described. Y f

Figure 1 represents in perspective, a dispensing cabinet embodying my invention. F represents a section on line 2 2 of `ig. 3 represents a sectional view, taken that on which Fig. 2 is taken but having certain parts removed for the sake of clearness of illustration. FFig. 4 represents a section on line 4-4 of i Fig. 5 represents, in perspective, one of the articles to be dispensed, such as for exam le, a towel.`

ig. 6 represents a front elevation of the cabinet with the doors in open position.:

Fig. 7 represents a rear elevation of a portion of one of the doors, with the towel retainer removed.

Fig. 8 represents in front elevation and on an enlarged scale a. portion of the cabinet.

Fig. 9 represents a sectionron line 9 9 of Fig. 1.

ig.' 10 represents, in rear elevation, a portion of one of thedoors and the means employed to effect the closing of the coin slot when the l'cabinet is empty.

Fig. 11' lrepresents a front elevation of the coin controlling mechanism in detached position.

Fig. 12 represents a section on line 12-12 of Fig. 6. i n

Fig. 13 represents a top plan View, partly broken away, `of thetowel retainer.

Fig. 14 represents, in perspective and away, the lower end of the re- Fig. l represents asection Non line 15-15 of Fig. 16.

Fig. 16 represents, in sectional elevation, v

`of a soap dis rising my invention, w ich is soap in owdered form.

Similar numerals of re erenceV indicate corresponding parts.'k f

Referring to the drawings 1 designatesV the casing of ra di ensing cabinet embodying my invention. or convenience of illustration, I have shown itiis a rectengnlareontour, although, as will be apparent, the con;

tour of the casingmaynvary in accordancev per left hand portion of the cabinet a part- `f 4 lis provided which extendslaterally v vtion from one side wall of the cabinet a desired yand isthen extended upwardly and secured to the rear wall of 'the cabinet in ,any mannerV and vby such construction a chamber yor compartment 5 is -provided 'was H or.A the unused'articlea-such as for examp e, the clean towels which are to be dispensed. ,Thepartition 4 at its upper end,

supports a roller 6.

. 7de' .ttes tom wa 8 and a side wall 9, the bottom being provided with a spout 10,." 11 designates a table forming the top of a closed cqmpartment12 which may be utilized d urpose. Thetablc 11 is prgvided with a rainage opening 13 which is in alinement with the spout 10. 14 desiga guide bar which with the guide bar te 15. `carried by the door 2 forms a slot 6. The door 3 is also provided with an Qwvanly extending .bar 17 which coperates with tliebar l15 to form a .continuation ofthe slot ld,A as will be best understood by reference to .Fia 1- 18 designates an article retainer which,

v as-rillustrated, is adapted toreceive articles,

towels, and at its upper end is provided with an extension 19 of reduced dipmetel, .the end of which vis secured in a bracket 20, see Fig. 6, by means of a set screw i vadzqitecl toneoeive a tubular sleeve 30 having V lower end 21. This retainer extends laterally and then downwardly through the openfended vvcompartment 22, se e Fig. 1, and it is then bent 'at an angle to extend intoY the oompa-rtF nient23. YIts lower end ,is of reduced diameter, as indicated at24, and is secured to a bracket 25 carried by the door 2, it'being that the bracket20 is also carried by the door 2. When the towels come from the laundry, they are assembled on a carrier 26 which consists of a tube or sleevethrough which the reduced end 19 of the towel're- VMM@ iS ,dpd to extend andj this sleeve is provided witha vlaterally extending stop 111.27 fromwhehextends-a rod 28 and to the forward end of the latter lis'pivoted a Stpfdfemm particularly Fig.V 13, `which 'loksin a Vrecess 8.9,-see Fig.

;. 'Iheexten'sinn 24 of thet'o j el retaineijv-is a collar V3l:- ''The lower end of the rod 18 is fixed tothe bracketr; by means of asetgserew The door y2 is mid e with `oneior mare Ykey-controlled Edie-:door- 3.: is provided Vwctli a `gprlng '34. aiesignates the articles tube' ,such-asiel: barrels,

a compartment having a fbot' which are provided with reinforced Y eyelets 36, andv iii/order tol effect their removal, I `mploy an article or towel remover 37 which consists of a casting or of a wire having at one end a grasping portion and at its opposite end a .slot 38 in order that it may slide on the towel retainer. v

Any Vdesired type vof check-controlled mechanism which is capable of operating in the manner hereinafter set forth ma)7 be employed 'but I have preferred to illustratea novel construction and arrangement of check or coin-controlling mechanism, all of which-isearried by the door 3. The door 3 isv provided with a coin slot 39 which is of the proper dimension to receive a predetermined `check or coin. This coin slot 39 Vcommunicataswith the coin chute 40 and .if the coin is of the proper dimension, it will pass throughthe coin chute 40,' see Fig. 11, andwill come to rest between a cam 41 and a bar 42 which is slidahly mounted in lbrackets 43 carried by a 'plate 44 which is -secured to the doorv3 'in any desired manner. The :cam 41 is carried by a rock shaft 45 which extends through the door 3 and is provided with a manually actuated handle l y v 47` designates a spring, one end of which is secured to acam 41 while its opposite end is secured to av fixed portion of the plate 44 in order to maintain the cam 41 normally in the position seen in Fig. 11. The bar 42 has extending therefromv an arm 48 to which is connected one'end of a spring 49, the other end of said springV being connected to one of the brackets 43.; The bar 42 is provided with a-slioulder or oflset 50 which engages one of the brackets .to retain a biturcated end 51 across the slot 16 at certain times, see Fig., 9, and when the bar 42 is in the position' seen inFig.. 9,V it engages one end of the lever 52, see-Fig. 9. This lever 52, as seen in Fig. 7, is pivoted to thel door 2 as at 53 and is connected bylmeans of a link 54 with a .lever 55 Vwhich is pivoted at 56 to the door .which extends one arm of a lever 61 which is pivotally narriedhy the plate 44, see Fig.Y 1l, -thepther endyof said larnrgis weighted xdofgschalengtli': as'.;.to extend across the slot' 16whenthebar42 has been released. The bar 42fat-oneend visjfpi'ovided with. a slot @which communieates'with anaperture 631" flhe-.coi ehhh-Gis mthaa fixed and with a movable side and one end of a lever 64 bears against the movable side and is connected with the rock shaft 45, so that if a check or coin is retained in the chute 40, owing to its being of improper dimension, it will be returned into a position accessible to the intending purchaser. When the movable side of the coin slot is open, the coin retained therein will drop into the return chute 65 and be delivered to the ket 66 which opens through the front of t e door 3.

The rock of Aa lever 67 with a .counter 68 which indicates the number of times the machine has been actuated. 69 designates a coin receptacle. The bar 42 controls the dispensing of the soap and the construction of the soap dispensing device will be best understood by reference to Fig. 12.

` designates a container for the liquid soap which is provided with a discharge port 71 which is controlled by a valve 72, the Stem of which is provided with a button 73. The discharge port 71 communicates with a `measuring chamber 74 which is provided with a discharge port 75 which is controlled by means of a spring pressed valve 76. In case it is desired to use soap in a solid form, such as for example, in the form of a powder, I preferably employ the construction seen in Fi 15 and 16from which it will be seen t at the soap container 77 is provided with ports 78 which communicate with a measuring chamber 79.

8() designates an apertured slide valve having ports to be brought into register with the ports 78, and this valve is adapted to be actuated by a lever 81, one end of which extends throu h the apertured end of the bar 42. The slie valve 80 is provided with projections 82 which serve to loosen up the soap which is to be dispensed. The measuring chamber 79 is provided with ports 83 which are controlled by means of a spring pressed valve 84 having ports to re'ster with the ports 83.

' -eferring now more particularly to Figs. 2, 3, 6 and 10, 85 designates a U-sllaped bar, the free ends of whlch are pivotally connected within` the cabinet and this bar normally rests on the article removin members 37. f, however, these have al been removed, this bar due to ravity and its own weight moves downwardly and bears against fone end of a lever, 86 pivotally carried bv the door 2 and'causes the opposite end 87 of the lever 86 to close the coin slot 39. The lever 86 is retained in its normal position by means of a s ring 88, one end of which is connected wit the lever 86, while its opposite end isconnected to a fixed portion of the door 2. y

, `The operation ofthe dispensing device shaft 45 is connected by means,k

koi" the slot 16. This will now be apparent to those skilled in this art and is as follows essuming that the dispensing device is to soap, the towels come from the' laundry on the tubular sleeve 26 which is assembled on the reduced end 19 of the article retainer 18. The upper end of the retainer 18 is then fixed to the bracket 20 by means of the fastening device 21 and the lower end of the article retainer 18 which has thereon the Y tubular sleeve 30 is Xed to the bracket 25 by means of the fastening device 32. The towels in a folded condition as seen in Fig. 5, are strung on the tubular sleeve 26 and the stop arm 29 is moved into the position seen in dotted lines in Fig. 13. It will be understood that when the towels are assembled on the sleeve 26 that the article removing device 37 is in rear of each towel, as will -be understood by reference to Figs. 1 and 2.

Assuming now that the doors 2 and 3 are locked and that the towel compartment has been filled with towels in the manner set forth, the intending purchaser places a check or coininto the coin slot 39. If the check or coin inserted vis of the proper dimension, it passes through the slot 'and ifnot it is retained in said slot. If it passes through the slot, it abuts against the inclined face of the cam 41 and bears` against a shoulder on the bar 42, see Fig. 11. At this time, the bar 42, owing to the provision of its shoulder 50, is lockedy against one of the brackets 43 and the spring 49 is under tension. The intending purchaser or user now takes hold of the grasping handle 46 and rocks the shaft 45, thereby causing the cam 41 to move the coin upwardly against the shoulder on the bar 42 which coperates with the coin. This causes one end of the bar 42 to be raised and as soon'as its shoulused for the dispensing of towels and i der 5l) is released from the bracket 43, the i spring'49 causes the locking bar 42 to move longitudinally so that its end 51 moves out movement of the locking bar 42 permits the lever 52 to assume the position seen in F ig. 7. The intending purchaser or user now grasps one of the article removing devices 37 and moves it forwardly in the slot 17 and the article carrier rides up the inclined face or cam face 58 and in moving down the vertical portion of the slot 16, it rocks the lever 52, thereby causing the stop pin 57 to move upwardly 4and prevent the removal of more than one article at a time. The article carrier 37 'moves the article into the compartment 22 as seen in Fig. 1 so that the article is now in a position accessible to the user. At the same time that the locking bar 42 moves longitudinally to move its end 51 out of the path of an article to be withdrawn, the stem of the is now moving valve 72 is reeeivedinthe'slot 62 ofv the "rzabutment 73 and raises the valve 72, thus permittin liquid soap to pass from the soap dis nser 0 into the measuring chamber '74.

he locking bar 42 moves forwardly and as soon as its a erture 63 registers with the abutment 73, the valve T2 is free to move. downwardly and close the port 71. The user now actuates the spring pressed valve 76 and the Vliquid soa passes from the chamber [4 into his han In case powdered soap orsoap of a solid nature is employed, the bar 42 rocks the lever 81 and actuates the slide valve 80 to permit the soap to pass to the measuring chamber 7-9. The intending Yuser then actuates the spring `pressed valve 74 so that the soap can pass into his hands ready for use. TheV towels 35 which have been used slide down on the towel retainer 18 into the compartment 23 and are received on thetubular sleeve 30. The locking bar 42 is returned to its normally locked position by the withdrawalof a towel vfrom the compartment 5. After the locking bar 42 is moved forwardly the weighted end of the lever 61 is moved upwardly across the slot 16 so as to be in the path of an article ywhich is being removed. As this article is moved downwardlyjt engages the weighted end of the lever 61, rocking it on its fulcrum and causing the bar 42 to be returned to its locked position seen in Fi 11. If all the towels havebeen removed igrom the machine, the bar 85 will move downwardlyl and bear against the lever 86,*vr thus causing one end t e f to move upwardlyand close the coin slot 39 and thus render the machine inoperative. The used towels which have been assembled on the tubular sleeve 3() are removed with the sleeve 30 and sent to the laundry and another sleeve 30 is secured in place readyV to receive the' used towels.

l The construction of the coin chute 40 is such that if a check or c oin is retained therein, the lever 64 will open the movable side of the coin chute and cause such improper or bogus cointo pass by means of the guide 65 to the pocket 66 in a position accessible tothe intending purchaser.

In accordance with my present invention, the articles to be dispensed are supported at the upper'portion of the cabinet and are then moved laterally and then downwardly into a osition accessible yto the lintending user. fter they are used, a compartment provided for their reception. The towel retainer is carried by one of the doors so that when the door is opened, the towels maybe readilyassembled with resV ect tothe containerv or removed therefrom. 'Ele coin controllinagiechanism and the v' me. ism are carried by the other door so that when such door is actuated by an article removi they pass intoy '0 ned, such mechanisms are'readily accescleaning dis ense or vend two different articles, suc

as or example, a towel and a predetermined amount of soa It will now'xiie apparent that I have devised a novel and useful dispensing cabinet which embodies the features of advantage enumerated as desirable in the statement of the, invention and the above description, and while Ihave, in the present instance, shown and described typical embodiments of it which lwill give 1n ractice satisfactorV and reliable results, it 1s to be understoo that these embodiments are susceptibley of modiiication in,variousparticulars without departing from thespirit or scope o the invention or sacrificin any otits advantages.

Havingl thus described myinvention, what Y I claim as new and desire tov secure by Letters Patent, is v 1. In a device of the character stated, a casing, an article guide within ksaid casing adaptedv to guide an article into a position accessible Vto the intending user, an article Aremoving member. slidable on said guide, locking mechanism for said articles, means memberto eiect the relocking of vsaid loc ing mechanism, and mechanism independent of said means to prevent more than one article at a time being removed from said casing.-

2. The combination with a towel cabinet, of a towel retainer within Vsaid cabinet, a towel receiving sleeve removablyv `carried by said retainer., a stop at one end of said sleeve, a bar connected with said stop and extending in Y roximity to the other end of said sleeve, fnd) a second stop movably carried by said 3. The combination Vwith a towel dispensin cabinet having a door, of a towel retamerl detachably connected with said door,

tainer detachably connected with said door, i

a sleeve carried by said retainer for the clean towels, a sleeve lcarried by said retainer `for the used towels, and towel removing vmembers slidably mounted on said retainer.

. v5. In a towel dispensing .'cabinet, a casing having a 4slot through foneof .its walls, a towel retainer insaid casing, towel removin members extending lthrough said slot. 'an

vslidabl mounted on.. said retainer, a'le'ver movab y mounted and extending 'in-to' said ent of Slot, locking mechanism for said lever and means actuated by said lever and independsaid locking mechanism to prevent more than one Atowel being removed at a time.

6. In a dispensing cabinet, a casing havg a slot through one of its walls, an article retainer in said casing, a lever extending into said slot, article removingV members slidable in said slot and in the path of which said lever is located, locking mechanism, and a stop member independent of said locking mechanism and actuated by said lever due to the engagement of an article removing member with said lever.

7. In a dispensing cabinet, a casing having a slot through one of its walls, an article retainer Within said casing, article removing members slidable in said slot, a lever pivotally supported, a tension device for said lever to cause a portion of it to extend into said slot in the path of an article removing member, locking mechanism for said lever, and a stop member independent of said locking mechanism and actuated by said lever as an article removing member passes over said lever.

8. In a dispensing cabinet, a casing having a slot through one of its Walls, an article retainer within said casing, article removing members slidable in said slot, a lever pivotally supported and having an inclined face in the path of an article removing member, a tension device for said lever to cause a portion of it to extend into said slot, and a stop in located in proximity to said inclinedp face and actuated by said lever to prevent more than one article being removed at a time.

9. In a dispensing cabinet, a casing having a slot through one of its walls, an article retainer within said casing, a lever pivotally supported, a tension device to cause said lever to extend into said slot, article removing members slidable in said slot, a stop member actuated by said lever to prevent more than one article being removed at a time, locking mechanism for said lever and said stop member, and means to effect the unlocking of said locking mechanism.

10. In a dispensing cablnet, a casing having a slot through one of its walls, an article retainer within said casing, a lever pivotally supported, a tension device to cause said lever to extend into said slot, article removing members slidable in said slot, a stop member actuated by said lever to prevent more than one article being removed at a time, locking mechanism for said lever and said stop member, means to eect the unlocking of said locking mechanism, and means actuated by an article removing member to effect the relocking of said locking mechanism.

l1. In a dispensing cabinet, a casing having a plurality of doors contributing to form a slot and provided with an open compartment communicating with said slot, an article retainer Within said casing communicating with said compartment and carried by one of said doors, article removing members slidable in said slot, locking mechanism carried by the other of said doors, means to e'ect the unlocking vof said mechanism, and means controlled by an i article removing member to effect the relocking of said mechanism.

l2. In a device of the character stated, a cabinet having a slot in one of its walls, an article retainer Jfor said cabinet, article removing members mounted in said slot to effect the removal of the articles into a position accessible to the user, a lever pivotally mounted and in the path of an article removing member to be depressed thereby, and a stop operatively connected with said lever and positioned to move into said slot when the lever is depressed toprevent the removal of the other articles on said article retainer.

13. In a device of the character stated, a cabinet having a slot in one of its walls. article removing members guided in said slot, an article retainer in said cabinet, means in said slot and directly actuated by an article removing memberto close said slot, a second lever mounted to move into said slot to engage said lever, and means to release saidsecond lever to permit the operation of said first lever.

14., In a device of the character stated, a cabinet having a slot in one of its walls, an article retainer in said cabinet, article removing members in said slot, a lever pivotally mounted and having one end extending into said slot and provided with a cam face in the path of an article removing member, and a sto pin positioned in proximity to said cam ace and connected to said lever to be moved into said slot when said lever is depressed by an article removing member.

1.5. In a device of the character stated, a cabinet having a slot, article removing means in said slot, a lever pivotally mounted and normally positioned in said slot, a tension device for said lever, and a atively connected to said lever and adapted to move into said slot when said lever is depressed by an article removing member.

JOHN FRITSCHE.

stop pin oper- 

